Sony’s Upbeat Holiday Outlook

Jun 16
2010

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From Japan Real Time:

Last year’s holiday season was disappointing for the videogame industry as the recession tightened consumers’ purse-strings, and gamers got choosier about the titles they chose to buy.

: AFP/Getty Images; Sony’s Peter Dille speaks at E3.

This year, however, the industry is re-energized with new motion-based accessories and 3-D games, and the atmosphere at the E3 industry tradeshow was decidedly more upbeat.

Kazuo Hirai, head of Sony’s videogame unit, which announced several 3-D games and a motion controller, said its PlayStation 3 game console is finally hitting its stride, and it was optimistic about the holidays.

“We’re poised to have a great year and obviously a great holiday season as well,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

Mr. Hirai said that he believes overall consumer spending, while improving, might continue to be constrained, but reiterated that videogames provide more hours of entertainment for their price, compared with movies and other leisure activities.

The PlayStation 3 has lagged behind rivals in sales, but Mr. Hirai said it’s gaining momentum, and Sony has had to ramp up production as some retailers have run out of stock.

Sony faces formidable competition this year from Nintendo’s 3DS 3-D portable game console and Microsoft’s camera-based Kinect motion technology, which lets users play games through gestures rather than a controller, but it will compete with a motion controller called Move that it says lets gamers shoot targets, slay enemies or swing a golf club with precise movements. Meanwhile, it is aggressively promoting 3-D games as part of its overall effort to push the 3-D experience through televisions and at the movies.

Mr. Hirai said the company will consider bundled 3-D deals for the holidays that will include a 3-D television and a PlayStation 3 console. It offered similar PlayStation 3 and LCD television last holiday season.

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